Sunshine countries

Sunshine countries also known as ‘Suryaputra’ (sons of the sun) are the countries that lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn which demarcates the zone where sun is exactly overhead atleast once a year. The term was coined by Modi at the 3rd India Africa summit on 30th Nov 2015 as a symbol of India’s seriousness towards sustainable environment and clean energy. Building on this initiative, the headquarters of International Solar Alliance (ISA) was setup at Gurgaon in 2016 and inaugurated by Modi and French President Francois Hollande. The ISA would provide the necessary guidance for research in solar energy as well as act as a rallying point for scholars and institutions doing research in this regard.

At present the cost of solar energy in India is slightly expensive than thermal power as the efficiency of solar panels manufactured using the n-p semiconductor technology with materials like Silicon and Germanium needs further research and development to increase efficiency in terms of converting photovoltaic and thermal energy into direct current. Secondly, storage of electricity is also a problem as lithium ion battery technology is also not well developed in India. The purchase cost of these batteries along with the cost of maintenance is so high that it dissuades the dissemination of solar technology at the grassroot level. Indian companied like Suzlon, Indosolar etc. have invested in solar business but the businesses are yet to breakeven as Indians are still circumspect to adopt solar technology despite government’s capital subsidy scheme. It is in this regard that government plans to come out with the concept of solar net metering that is prevalent in western advanced nations wherein the residents install solar panels on their roof tops and utilize the electricity so generated to meet their domestic needs while the surplus is fed into the government’s grid. The benefit augurs to them in terms of reverse rotation of their smart electricity meters which move forward when the households act as net consumers of electricity and backwards when act as producers.

India endeavours to produce 175GW of electricity from renewable sources of energy by 2022 which includes 100GW of solar energy. India is also planning to reduce her emission intensity by 33 to 35 percent by 2030. This provides a great opportunity for Indian manufacturers to set shop and capitalize on the tremendous business opportunity that India’s vast geography and demography is providing. This would also generate employment and encourage Indian entrepreneurs to undertake research and development in this regard.

The achievement of these targets entails substantial amount of research in non-fossil fuel sources of energy which will be raised as membership fee of ISA estimated to be $400 million. Currently, the technology to produce solar energy in an efficient cost effective manner is possessed by the developing countries that have refused to share or transfer this technology with developing countries. The platform of ISA will enable sharing of knowledge and resources and thus enable the alliance countries to adopt sustainable developmental models.

The leadership initiative taken by India in this regard would raise India’s stature in comity of World nations and portray her as a responsible nation that is ever willing to contribute to the noble initiatives of sustainable development. The rise in India’s prestige would endow her with greater support from the third world nations who would willingly back India’s candidature at UNSC. Moreover, the technological breakthrough in this domain would enable India to earn foreign exchange by helping less fortunate countries benefit from solar technology.

By: Abhinav